Indian embassy in UAE thwarts 700 fake job offers to Indians

Abu Dhabi, Jul 3: Over 700 fake job offers made to Indians in the UAE has been thwarted by the Indian embassy here in the last six months. "Between January and June 2017 alone, we have got 792 inquiries about employment offers, and only 66 turned out to be genuine. More than 700 were fake," India's Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said.

Raising the red alarm over the staggering number of fake employment offers, Suri said hundreds of enquiries are coming to the Indian Workers Resource Centre (IRWC) from Indian citizens outside of the UAE.

"Indian job seekers are being lured with bogus jobs with attractive pay packets. But it is a good thing that they are checking with us before accepting these offers. It shows their trust that the embassy will help. And we are happy to have saved so many Indians from falling into the trap," the envoy was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times.

"The IWRC, which is the welfare arm of the embassy, has the resources to check with the concerned employers, and verify the authenticity of the offer." The embassy also checks visas sent by Indian jobseekers and verify the authenticity. Conmen create fake websites and logos of companies and send offer letters to people. The gullible job seekers are then asked to contact a travel agency -- that also fictitious -- for the processing of visa, and pay up amounts up to Dh5000 or more as reimbursable fee.

According to UAE labour laws, it is illegal for recruitment agents and companies to charge job candidates for any visa or processing fee. The offer letters look so genuine with company logos and signature of HR head, but the pay packets are often too good to be true. In some cases, people have received job offers through email without even applying for the job or attending an interview. Dinesh Kumar, First Secretary, Community Affairs at the embassy said there has been a spike in the number of fake job offers.

"We often put out alerts on our social media asking people to be cautious. But there are unscrupulous recruitment agents and conmen who up their game and come up with even more genuine-looking offers," said Kumar. He said job offers and visas can be verified by emailing IWRC at [email protected].

PTI